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David Sibray

David Sibray is the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of West Virginia Explorer, a news and travel magazine devoted to the state’s history, tourism, outdoor recreation and economic development. For more information, he may be reached at 304-575-7390 or at editor@wvexplorer.com
The New River Gorge Bridge spans its namesake gorge near Fayetteville, W.Va.
Communities

WVU webinar series to focus on sustainable rural tourism

by David Sibray

Many West Virginia communities are enjoying a marked increase in tourism as well as an influx of new residents propelled by the work-from-home revolution, and the extension service at West Virginia University is working to help communities build on that. The service’s new year-long monthly webinar series “Sustainable Rural Tourism” is designed to illustrate basic … Read more

New River from Beauty Mountain by Rick Burgess, Fayette County, New River Gorge Region
Culture

Mountain speech may still be heard in rural West Virginia

by David Sibray

Though its speakers are aging and declining in number, there are still places in West Virginia where folks speak in what’s known as the Southern Mountain Dialect, more often called Appalachian Speech. Professor Wylene Dial was one of several authorities on the matter and studied it after she arrived in West Virginia in 1945 to … Read more

A finger points to the approximate location of the Devil's Tea Table in the Little Kanawha River Wildlife Management Area.
Culture

Civil War-era mystery of Burning Springs remains unsolved

by David Sibray

BURNING SPRINGS, W.Va. — Curious motorists traveling the valley of the Little Kanawha River southwest of Parkersburg may or may not stop at historic Burning Springs. There, a defunct country museum filled with oil-drilling paraphernalia may cause curious travelers to slow down, but too few stop. The museum itself is a bit of a mystery. … Read more

Deep indentions decorate some of the Honeycomb Rocks near Marlinton, West Virginia.
Attractions

West Virginia trail leads through garden of strange rocks

by David Sibray

MARLINTON, W.Va. — Wherever you turn in West Virginia, you’re bound to find remarkable rocks, cliffs, and boulders, and some of them may appear bizarrely unnatural. One such astonishing garden of boulders hidden in the mountains of Pocahontas County appears so unnatural that it’s hard to believe human hands haven’t carved their surfaces. Geometric forms—cones, … Read more

Forests in what became West Virginia were managed in ways we're only beginning to understand.
Culture

Ancient West Virginia forests once a mosaic of landscapes

by David Sibray

Historians once assumed that West Virginia had been shaded by a vast unbroken forest, but an expert on old forests in the Mountain State says the region was, instead, a patchwork landscape of woodlands and fields opened by Native Americans. “I’ve heard it said that a squirrel could run limb-to-limb across West Virginia without touching … Read more